Raspberry Jam Sandwiches

After last week’s super rich peanut butter cup blondies, I wanted to make something a little simpler. The weather here in the Seattle area has been pretty strange, with freezing rain/slushy snow this week! I had spied a couple of fall-like recipes, but I didn’t end up having the right ingredients. I really need to get to the store to stock up.

A couple of weeks ago I made thumbprint cookies filled with raspberry chocolate orange preserves that I had picked up last summer at the farmer’s market. I still had some of the preserves left, and I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with it. I had thought about making some sort of raspberry cheesecake bars, but I couldn’t find quite the right recipe. I was thumbing through one of my cookie books and came across a recipe for raspberry cream sandwiches. The filling was made with raspberry and cream, which looked really great. I decided to make the cookies from that recipe and then just sandwich together with the wonderful preserves that I had on hand.

These cookies are about as simple as you can get. The do spread a lot, so I learned after the first batch to leave a lot of space between the cookies! Baking time is very touchy, too, with the cookies going from perfect to overbaked in about 20 seconds. The cookies are very thin, but I prefer that for sandwich cookies since thick cookies become too much when sandwiched together. The cookies have a crispy, buttery flavor. When first sandwiched together, the cookies remain crisp and the jam adds a nice sweetness. They soften after sitting a while, but retain their wonderful flavor. I put these together quickly, but I think they are a big hit.

1-3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
Jam, for filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract; mix until smooth. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture.

Drop dough onto prepared baking sheets, spacing two inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden and just set. Let cookies cool on wire racks.

To assemble, spread about one teaspoon filling onto the bottom of one cookie and sandwich together with another.

Cookie recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies